


Loner

by Longwinterynights



Category: Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Bounty Hunters, M/M, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-03
Updated: 2016-05-03
Packaged: 2018-06-06 04:23:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6738103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Longwinterynights/pseuds/Longwinterynights
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Writing from my courier’s perspective. Ruthless man with lingering morale. Featuring slight sexual frustration with Joshua Graham.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Loner

Since day one there had been too many heads in this race. The price was fair. Even better when split between nobody else. Suffocating one with a pillow had been the catalyst for the paranoia. Who offed Tom?  
Renny, Brian and Reno. And myself. Sitting at bar corner table. Everyone placed themselves so they could see one another. Listening discussion he realized it was a group of family men he had found himself with.  
He listened, remaining mostly quiet. Wife and children home. Other had sick mother in need of tending. Rafael poured drink down his throat. They were close.

 

“This should be it”.  
Men dismounted and headed to the cemetery carrying spades.

Rough wind whistled in ears. Grave marks were an endless sea. Nobody could afford stone. Graves were marked with planks and simple carvings. A lot unmarked graves. Some were dug open. One resting place laid wide open. Coffin was shattered and remains of a skeleton lay amidst dust and mud. He saw hint of terracotta fabric on the skeleton.  
They spent good while looking over initials, searching for the right combination. Day rolled on and tripped over midday point when they stumbled upon right grave. Rafael kicked over the plank: “Let’s begin”. Spades were carried out and the digging began.  
There wasn’t much earth separating the recently deceased. As the shovels hit open the coffin, air was filled with putrid aroma of dormition and foot grease. It mixed in with shifty eyes and readied revolvers. Corpse was as if it had fell right into the coffin, wearing boots and gun at hand. Behind an arm was little glimpse of something sturdy.

Rafael pulled out the revolver. So did Brian. There was just one shit and Brian fell back to the freshly opened grave. His body crumbled over old coffin. In a shot Renny and Reno were alert and had their guns ready.  
“Just as I thought”, Reno pointed gun at him.  
“Tell Tommy my regards”, Rafael’s thumb quickly reloaded the weapon.  
Reno flinched. He looked at Renny who had his weapon pointed at him.  
“Renny.. The fuck?”.

Young man’s hand shook slightly but his eye didn’t: “Odds change”, he walked up to man and punched him. Just the spot he had taught.  
“Get rope”, he ordered and Renny went to get some. Rope tightened, waking up the man. Reno let out a cry but was silenced by his own squirming.  
Rafael stare at the sight, hearing as Renny carried the box on horses. He lit up a cigarette, watching as last trails of life exited man. “You… know he had wife and kid?”, Renny asked weakly behind the horse. Rafael turned, finally turning another page close.

“He’s a bounty hunter. Not coming home is always possibility”, Raf’s eyes turned to young man: “You know that”.  
Renny nodded, looking unsurely around. Air weightened him down: “What is it?”. Young man jumped from words: “I… I’m not sure. What”. Rafael inhaled last smokes from cigarette. He placed smoke between his fingers and with free hand pulled out his revolver.

“Your fear is warranted”, finger danced along the trigger. He savoured the moment. The moment of fear, everything was so clear and white. No regrets, no hesitation. All other emotions dulled num. It was like storm’s back. He breathed the air in, slowly looking at young man: “So I’ll give you a headstart”. Renny’s eyes widened. He gasped and stepped towards his horse unsurely.

“One”, Rafael breathed.

Young man turned and ran to his horse. He witnessed most clumsy horse-back climb ever.

“Two”

The horse went to a wild gallop. Rafael tossed down the cigarette and stepped onto his horse, opening the saddleback. He never said how much.  
He grabbed his rifle and took an aim. “Three”, shot echoed in dry desert air.

Horse screamed and fell, trapping Renny underneath. Young man quivered, left leg trapped under the weight of dead animal. Renny’s gun had flipped up in air, landing in Rafael’s awaiting hands. With sharpshooter at hand and rifle on other, he walked to man.  
“You know. It would be really funny to let you go”  
Young man turned shocked, eyes widened: “W-what?”  
“No horse, one leg out of play, against the desert”. Renny shivered in agony: “You bastard, kill me”, young man begged.  
Still well and full of life. Mojave wasteland wasn’t completely lacking in medical care. Young man could still be rescued. Rafael put the pistol away and put rifle back to his back by sliding the strap over his shoulders. He grabbed young man’s wrists, wrapping them together and he grabbed rope, tieing them up.  
“W-what the fuck are you doing?”  
“This will hurt like a motherfucker”, Rafael grabbed young man’s leg, starting to yank it off underneath the carcass. The sound emitted scared all carcass-eaters away at least in mile radius. It probably alarmed both NCR and Legion. Maybe even Zion.

Renny lied in ground, cheek to the dirt. Rafael fashioned a makeshift plank that he tied on young man’s leg, to keep it somewhat straight.  
“I don’t get this… why you”, young man’s pained mumbling went on like a river.  
“Bother?”  
A whimper. Rafael grins. He straightened himself, digging out pack of cigarettes. He lit up, inhaling first long breathe.  
“I guess to make it even”, he looked up to the sky. Night was falling fast.  
Renny turned from side to his back, facing him: “Even?”, dust crumbled.  
Death toll was so high Rafael couldn’t remember specifics anymore. Just details. Man taking victory bath. Faces. The beautiful porcelain face of the prostitute.  
“You son of a bitch have killed so many there is no goddamn even for you”  
Young man fluttered like a leaf. A gentle breeze and he would fly off like a whisper. Or a rumor. A rumor, eh.  
“I’m saving-”, no, no: “I’m allowing you to live”  
“For what?”, the sound of disbelief in his voice  
Rafael’s eyes rolled: “I like you better”

 

With treasure at bag and wounded comrade at back, Rafael rode on. They crossed endless wasteland littered with little houses here and there. Barn houses with their livestock and crops.  
“What did your parents do?”, Renny’s voice trailed behind him.  
Rafael grunted.  
“What were their.. professions”  
He lied: “Farmers”, who would question it.  
“My parents. They.. live here”, Renny gasped: “At the end of road”, he nodded towards the short line driving through small concentration of homes.

Rafael’s eyes stayed at the houses until they’ve ridden past. They picked up speed. They arrived at the edge of mountains, greeted by rare appearance of trees and grass. Life always found a way.  
“Why did you tell me that?”. Horse clopped through dodgy terrain, slipping between trees and bushes.  
Renny lied silent. Just groans. Rafael turned, looking at his contraption that was leaked over with blood.  
Rafael promptly pulled reins, stopping the horse. Young man groaned. Far in the distance, scout kneeled down, picking something off ground. Bullets, a trail? He recognized these colours. What were they doing here?  
“What is it?”

Rafael gazed into the woods. His eyes wandered around the valley, spotting other scouts. It was just a matter of moments until Graham knew of his presence. The idea had robbed him off a breath. For a moment.  
“A dead horse”, Rafael almost whispered.  
“You’re shocked by a wildling?”, Renny stared at him from behind. Rafael looked at him sidelong.  
“Watch your tongue”, Rafael murmured. He commanded horse on tender walk, walking over lands he had crossed plenty times before. Scout followed his horse with utmost attention.  
“It’s not like I have never been here”  
“What are we doing here?”  
“Getting you a doctor”

Acting Leader of Dead Horses had nested himself away from prying eyes and sunlight. Latter made perfect sense. Rafael picked up Renny and lift him up from the horse’s back.  
“I didn’t know you hunted, Raf”  
Young tribeling had stopped before him, eyeing Renny with growing curiosity.  
“I do”, he smiled. Detail weren’t for kids.  
He opened ropes on Renny’s legs, grabbed him from arm, leading him through camp.

 

“Why is he tied up?”  
Rafael eyed Renny who was standing next to him: “He needs medical care”.  
Joshua Graham sat behind table. Between bandages loomed pair of sharp eyes. Man was all covered in bandages and spoke like something that had crawled up from flames.  
“He’s a bounty, isn’t he? Another skin to turn in for money”.

Renny whimpered, now staring at him, blaming. Rafael looked down on Renny, then back at Joshua: “Debts need to be paid”  
“To the glorious casino city in the south”  
Rafael searched for words, unable to find any. He felt the looks back of his head. Joshua weighed pistol at his hand.  
“You’ll have to find your shepard somewhere else”, man’s arm was quick. Shot echoed in cave walls. Rafael saw Joshua holding weapon so rarely he was completely clouded by the action.  
Renny collapsed next to him. Young man’s eyes left open, gazing at him. Silently begging for a way out.

 

Renny’s eyes stared at him from the darkness.

Sitting down, now faced with the corpse he just orchestrated gave him some moment of clarity. Rafael remembered abandoned gas station. The weight of poker chip that was now absent from his hands. The weight had changed place, to his forehead. He slid the rim of hat down, revealing a bullet scar on his head. Joshua stopped dead on his tracks, turning looking at him.

“That’s close”. Rafael lit up a cigarette. He might as well enjoy his stay.  
Joshua took a step forth. His hand reached in, touching the scar lightly. Skin touched the stitching running along the skin: “This is some fine handwork”  
“I was just lucky”. Joshua’s bandaged hand stopped at his chin, forcing Rafael’s bearded chin to lift up: “Debatable”.  
Rafael smiled wrily with smoke between lips: “It’s a huge hit with the ladies”.  
“Just women?” Rafael squinted. What was that?  
Rafael smiled back: “I’m not picky about the holes”. Joshua frowned under bandages, pulling his hand off. He could feel the disgust. 

“But you need me. You give me a name and they’ll be history. You and your tribe can live on, happily, with no blood-”  
“The blood is in my hands”  
“No, it’s my blood”, Rafael grabbed man’s wrist: “I’ll happily spill blood for you”. Rafael’s pale night eyes stopped at Joshua’s eyes. Between the bandages, they showed hint of emotion that wasn’t his usual self.

His hand reached in towards the bandaged face: “The things I’d show you, father”, words balanced between his lips. They were so close. He breathed against rugged bandages mouth. He felt other man’s breathe behind the fabric: “Makes angels cry”.

“You’re a goddamn fiend”, Joshua’s voice was ripping like a desert temper. Sent shivers down the spine. Joshua moved quick and his hand grabbed him by neck. For burned man his grasp was mean. Man wrestled him and he wrestled back. Rafael had too much curiosity in his hands. He grabbed the mormon’s jean’s front.

“I knew you could bulge”. Burned Man shoved him away. To the tent entrance. “Get out”, Joshua’s words were cold. He stepped over body of Renny as he walked out of the tent.

 

Under cape of night a lone rider travelled over plains. Returning old tracks, man found way back to earlier. Line of lone homes slumbering under bright moon. He directed horse on the narrow pathway, passing houses. Some glew with tender lights.

Final house was small and run-down. Rafael carefully descended his horse, petting it’s side as he reached to his saddlebags and opened the treasure of the grave. It hadn’t been much. A petty sum even for a one man. He halved the sum and put it in bag. He closed it and walked over the house, sliding the coin pouch under the porch.


End file.
